


Monarch and Matriarch

by BeeTeeDubya14



Series: Meus Magna Opera: The Papilio AU [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adoption, F/F, F/M, Fox Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Gen, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, Multi, Nonbinary Nora Césaire, Trans Female Character, Trans Girl Alya Césaire, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28459410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeeTeeDubya14/pseuds/BeeTeeDubya14
Summary: Because I saw this lovely "Dupain-Chengs adopt just about everyone" fic, and I got inspired to cross it over with my Papilio AU!
Relationships: Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Series: Meus Magna Opera: The Papilio AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1422379
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Monarch and Matriarch

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dupain Cheng Kids AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25970680) by [MiraculousRickMay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraculousRickMay/pseuds/MiraculousRickMay). 



_In the middle of a portal between dimensions…_

“So you’re gonna provide us a chance to stop them?” the woman said, one eyebrow raised in suspicion as she floated. “It’s nice and all, but I can’t help but feel like you have an ulterior motive.”

“You’re not wrong that I have something I need you to do beforehand,” admitted an omnipresent voice, “but I believe you’ll find it a reasonable request.”

“...I’m listening.”

“As I partially explained earlier, there is a Miraculous-wielding villain known as Hawkmoth in the parallel universe I am sending you to,” the voice elucidated, “I request that you and your kwami aid those fighting against him.”

“That’ll be fun to deal w- wait, Hawk _moth_? You’re not saying the Miraculous he uses is like mine… are you?”

“Yes, he is. Why?”

“You probably made the wrong choice picking me, then. Why would you think the heroes or civilians would trust someone who looks akin to the villain?”

“You were all I could find… please help me. My universe needs your help, and I could find no one else without disrupting their universe!”

The woman sighed, before turning to the purple kwami at her side. “What do you think, old friend?” she asked. “Are you in?”

“Let’s do it!” the kwami replied, a severe look on their face. “What about you?”

“We can’t escape adventure, it seems… very well, I’m in,” the woman said, “Miss Voice, you’ll provide me living space and all of that, right?”

“If you agree to the terms, you shall wake up in a… _safehouse_ … of sorts which I owned in my lifetime.” the voice began explaining. “You will be able to understand and be understood in all modern languages, and you will find not only enough money to last you for a few months but all the legal documentation required to fit in with Paris. However, you’ll need to find work and whatnot on your own.”

“That’s fine by me,” the woman nodded. “Paris, huh? Interesting… I’d always wanted to travel, but, well… you know why I haven’t, don’t you?”

Memories flashed through her mind. Heated arguments between her and her brother, stepmother and father, crying into the arms of her mother, spending treasured moments with her boyfriend and girlfriend… _fighting the monster who had ruined nearly all of that for her_ … 

Steeling herself, Rosaline “Rosie” Cramois nodded. “Take me there, Miss Voice.”

As everything went to black, Rosie heard the voice say, “Please… call me Segerta…”

* * *

_Half of a year later, starting some time after Heroes’ Day…_

Marinette was decidedly not having a good time. 

All of her classmates - minus Adrienne, who was taking the high road for whatever reason - were under Lila’s thrall, Hawkmoth was getting tougher by the day, and Master Fu was training her hard when it came to the Miraculouses. The Guardian had noted her stress and exhaustion and had thus learned about Lila. He had advised her to squash her in what ways she could, but nothing Marinette had tried worked. 

The far-too-small blessings rested in two things. The first - Master Fu had lightened up her workload from him as much as he reasonably could. The second - Francoise-Dupont’s newest substitute teacher had her back… to a degree, anyways. 

Rosie Cramois - a young woman who not only did substitute teaching but also part-timed at the bakery - hadn’t fallen for Lila’s bullcrap from the beginning. She had figured out the class was on the transfer student’s side, however, and while she did her best to make others realize Lila was lying, it mostly just ended up being her redirecting things back to classwork. Marinette worried for the sub the few times that the two had met. Maybe she should talk with Mme. Cramois the next day she showed up…?

The train of the thought stopped when she realized she was just about at the Césaires’ house. Not only had Albert and her had planned a sleepover just for the two of them - something they hadn’t done in a while - but Master Fu had given her permission to test Renard Rouge (and perhaps Carapace later on) out as permanent wielders. 

_You and Albert haven’t done this since Lila showed up_ , her mind unhelpfully provided.

It was unfortunately viewed as a bit odd by society, a boy and a girl having a non-romantic relationship as strong as theirs without being related, but whatever. As she got closer to the door, she heard a shouting match going on from inside the house. One of the arguers seemed to be Albert.

“Don’t associate yourself with those ********!” Marlena Césaire snarled.

“But-”  
A loud sound rang out, making Marinette cringe in horror. Had… had Mme. Cesaire just _slapped_ Albert?

“But nothing!” Otis’ voice chimed in. “You’re going to make a bad impression on Ella and Etta! It was already bad enough when Nora said _she_ wanted to be called they/them pronouns or whatever, but you too?”

Marinette had always known Marlena and Otis were biphobic and homophobic, but this was new. Albert had requested that them and their classmates hide his relationship with Nino; perhaps her parents had found her out?

Wait. What did they mean by _you too_?

“Marinette?” a voice called to Marinette. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw Mme. Cramois walking up to her. “I heard a shouting match, and I was worried someone might get akumatized. What’s going on?” the substitute teacher asked.

“Well-”

A dark-purple flash of light caught both their attention, followed by loud, cringe-inducing sounds from inside the house.

“Marinette,” Mme. Cramois suddenly said coolly, “ _run_.”

Marinette did just that. After she’d gotten a safe distance away and found a hiding spot, she opened her bag to let Tikki out.

“Wait, Marinette!” Tikki whispered before Marinette could transform.

“What is it?”  
“I sensed some magic presence coming off of that woman you talked with,” Tikki whispered hurriedly, “It’s similar to Nooroo’s!”

“That’s the Moth kwami, right?” Marinette gasped, eyes wide. “But Hawkmoth’s a guy, and he looks way older than her anyways!”

“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Tikki said sadly. Marinette liked Mme. Cramois, no doubt, but if she was Hawkmoth, that certainly took priority.

Transforming into Ladybug, she burst through a window of the house and took in the sight of not one but _two_ supervillains. 

An akumatized Marlena - clad in a dark chef’s outfit and wearing a mask similar to that of a hockey player - was swinging at Albert with a large, swordlike knife while Etta and Etta cowered in a corner of the house in fear of a bracelet-wearing lion. Animan was back, it seemed.

Ladybug quickly threw her yo-yo, wrapping around a front paw of Animan that was about to seriously damage the twins.

Both akumas noticed her in response to her interference. Hawkmoth’s signature mask appeared over their faces, causing both to nod before they charged at Ladybug.

“Get out of here, guys! As far away as you can!” Ladybug called, deflecting a tomato bomb from Akuma Marlena into Animan’s now-ursine face. The bear roared in pain and recoiled, trying to shake off the tomato bits now splattered over their eyes.

“So who are you supposed to be, Mme. Césaire?” Ladybug roared. “Queen Bigot?”

“I am Cuisinière!” the akumatized woman roared, “You already know Animan, I'm sure, so we’ll skip introductions - give me your Miraculous!”

Smaller knives than the one she’d attacked Albert were thrown at Ladybug. After she’d dodged them all, she realized she was pinned to the wall.

A roar realerted her to Animan, who was now a gorilla - it looked like he’d recovered.

Ladybug managed to dodge the attacks of the akumas and get out of the house, Cuisinière and Animan in swift pursuit. 

_I need to find Albert or Nino!_ was the thought racing through Ladybug’s mind, _but they’re super close - I can’t get to them without revealing Renard Rouge or Carapace’s identities-_

Something zoomed by her, making her pigtails blow around for a second with the gust of wind. Skidding to a stop, she looked back and she saw some sort of giant purple fist ram into Cuisinière and Animan, sending them flying back.

Upon further inspection, actually, the fist was made of a swarm of what looked like moths… or were they butterflies? 

Hawkmoth wouldn’t save her from his own akumas… right?

From her left, an accented, female voice called, “Go, Ladybug! Get your allies - I’ll buy you time!”

Head whipping in that direction, Ladybug saw a silhouette of the person who must have called to her.

“Go!” the voice cried again. Not wasting any time, Ladybug mentally put her trust in the stranger and took off.

“Who are _you_ to interfere?” Cuisinière screeched at the silhouette as she dodged the attacks of the butterfly swarm. 

The woman called back, “Your worst nightmare, you transphobic dickbags!”

* * *

It wasn’t long before Ladybug managed to locate Albert. On the way, she’d passed Chat Noir and pointed him in the direction of the akumas. Chat simply nodded resolutely, twirled his baton and charged off in search for Cuisinière and Animan.

When she found Albert, she noticed that her bestie was alone. Dropping down to talk with her, she asked, “Where are Ella and Etta?”

“Nora’s protecting them,” Albert breathed out, “Ladybug, I can’t be Renard Rouge…”

“Why not?” Ladybug asked, confused. “Because you don’t want to fight them?”

“Oh, _hell_ no,” Albert laughed bitterly, “it’s because I’d fit better as Rena Rouge instead.”

“...you’re trans, aren’t you?” Ladybug realized. “Oh, sweetie… that’s why your parents were yelling at you, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Albert sighed, tears beginning to trickle down her eyes. “I’ve been living a triple life…”

“Triple life?” Ladybug said, confused.

“Albert isn’t real, and Renard Rouge is an alter ego,” Albert explained, “but _Alya_ is the real me.”

“Well then, _Alya_ ,” Ladybug smiled at her softly, making _her_ look up in surprise and hope, “You _can_ be Rena Rouge, you know. The Miraculous takes the ideal form for you… plus, if you can prove yourself, I’m considering making you a permanent wielder.”

Alya gasped. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Ladybug nodded eagerly, extending the box with Trixx’s Miraculous out to _her_. “You know what to do, right?”

Opening the box, Alya smiled at the sight of Trixx. 

“Heya, kit!” Trixx greeted. The kwami then squinted at her curiously, before saying, “Something’s different about you…”

“I’m Alya, not Albert,” Alya explained quickly, “We can talk about it later.”

Trixx nodded at her approvingly. “She/her, right?”

Alya lit up. “Trixx, Let’s Pounce!”

* * *

Chat was impressed at the silhouetted woman who had been buying Ladybug time. It certainly made sense why his partner had been able to escape the akumas now.

Her control of the butterflies (the similarity to Hawkmoth was something he and Ladybug could and would worry about _after_ the akuma) was impeccable, and she would occasionally shoot purple energy blasts from a weapon (he couldn’t tell what kind of weapon it was specifically) in order to throw Cuisinière and Animan’s attacks off-kilter. They hadn’t really been _introduced_ and she’d already saved his bacon a few times.

Eventually, Ladybug and a new figure in orange joined him in battle. As Ladybug used her yo-yo to fan away Cuisinière’s spice attack, he took a better look at her and was surprised to find a new Fox wielder.

“My Lady, who’s this?” he asked as he leaped back into the fray. “What happened to Renard Rouge?”

“This is _Rena_ Rouge,” Ladybug said, although she was more focused on dealing with Animan at that moment, “Let’s talk about this after the attack!”

Chat missed the uneasy look on Rena Rouge’s face at the name of her “predecessor.”

“Got it, My Lady!” Chat nodded; he knew Ladybug kept her promises to the best of her ability. “Where do you think Cuisinière‘s akuma is?”  
“Try the hat!” Rena Rouge suggested. Chat nodded, before charging Cuisinière. After a few swings of his baton, said baton and the chef akuma’s giant knife met in an audible clash.

“Give up, _Chat Estipid_ ,” Cuisinière sneered, “you can’t match my raw talent! I’ll find my _son_ -”

Her chef’s hat suddenly took on a light purple glow before it lazily flew off of her head.

“What the-”

The woman who’d been taking potshots at the akumas earlier had flown in, some weird sort of wings helping her fly through the air. In a smooth swinging motion not unlike unsheathing a katana, a jeweled staff-sword-thing sliced the black chef’s hat cleanly in two.

As Ladybug purified the akumatized moth, Animan - now a giant squid - attempted to get the woman with a flurry of blows when she landed. She dodged every last blow of the eight limbs not being used like feet and retaliated by swooping behind the akuma and poking him in the back, making him involuntarily do a short jump into the air.

It was only now that Ladybug, Chat Noir and Rena Rouge were able to get a decent look at the woman. There wasn’t a lot to describe, as she was wearing a large mauveine cloak covering most of her body with the exception of the upper half of her face and feet (the latter of which were covered by a set of brown dress shoes). In her hand was a spearlike staff ( _not too unlike Hawkmoth’s cane-sword,_ Ladybug noted) with a faintly glowing purple jewel on the non-pointed end. Other than the shoes, the only color that stood out from all that purple was the long, flowing red hair she had.

“So, uh… Purple Lady,” Chat greeted awkwardly, “You got a plan to take these guys down?”

“You see that headband-like bracelet this douchebag’s wearing?” the woman responded as she readied her weapon. “If memory serves, that’s where the akuma was last time. Keep his tentacles busy, will you?”

“Can do,” Ladybug nodded, before throwing her yo-yo at Animan to wrap his tentacles together. Chat dashed forward and whacked any tentacles that rose up to untie him. 

Finally, the woman elegantly leaped on top of the octopus, ripping his bracelet off before he could change into another animal and crushing it in her palm. The akuma flew out, and Ladybug snatched it up quickly.

Needing to purify the city, Ladybug called upon her Lucky Charm. In a flash of light, a police badge appeared in her hand.

“Wonder why it gave you that?” Chat wondered.

The purple woman snapped to attention at the sight of it. “Well… I have reason to believe that Animan and Cuisinière’s true selves are rotting transphobes. When her daughter came out to her, this woman slapped her and rejected her. That’s physical abuse!”

“Yikes…” Chat whistled. “But what does that have to do with the police?”

“Physical abuse is _illegal_ , Chat Noir,” the woman said almost condescendingly, “as are hate crimes. We can take this info to the police and get her and any siblings somewhere safer and better.”

“But where would they go?” Rena Rouge asked, eyes big with worry and shock. “To my knowledge, the rest of their family lives in Martinique and other places…”

The woman hummed pensively for a little while. After a little while of silence, an idea seemed to come to the woman.

“First: they have an older sister who’s a legal adult, don’t they? Second: if that sister can’t take care of all of them, I know a gal who can foster one or two of them until they can become independent.”

“You _do_?” Rena Rouge whispered. Nora made quite a decent bit of money with her kickboxing, so she could definitely take care of at least some of the trio that was Alya, Ella and Etta.

“I _assure_ you that she will take good care of them,” Purple Woman responded. “Besides, from what I know, Alya knows her.”

“Well, enough waiting,” she said before Ladybug and company could say anything, “Ladybug, please do the thing where you restore the city.”

“Right, right,” Ladybug nodded along, remembering what she needed to do. With a quick incantation of _Miraculous Ladybug_ , she set the streets and the Césaires’ house to rights.

With that, the woman in purple began walking off. 

“Wait!” Chat called. “Where are you going?”

“Gotta make a phone call to my associate,” she waved him and his fellow superheroes off, “I’ll talk with y’all at some point soon, if you’d like. Where should we meet?”

Ladybug and Chat looked to each other, silently planning with each other before Ladybug spoke for the two of them. “Meet us on the Eiffel Tower.”

“Got it,” the woman affirmed while exchanging communicator info with the two heroes. When she was done, the new heroine turned to Otis and Marlena. A nasty scowl formed on her face at the sight of them.

“You guys are in for a _world_ of hurt,” she said as Ladybug, Rena and Chat somewhat begrudgingly helped the elder Césaires down from the building they’d formerly been fighting on. After filling in Roger and his team of the hate crimes and child abuse Otis and Marlena had done, the two “parents” were carted away to sit in a cell until the trial that would decide their fate. 

Not long after, Mme. Cramois stumbled into the station out of nowhere, slightly out-of-breath.

Recollecting herself quickly, she whispered _Papilio sent me_ into Ladybug’s ear, causing the heroine’s eyes to flash open in surprised understanding. _Mme. Cramois_ was the ‘gal’ that their mysterious helper knew?!

Walking up to Roger, Mme. Cramois said Ladybug had sent for her. From the side, Ladybug nodded along to affirm this. Chat looked confused, but everything clicked in his head after a few seconds and he moved his face to a neutral one before anyone else could notice.

Rosie simply said that if she could adopt the Césaires’ daughter (putting emphasis on _daughter_ ) Alya after the two had lost custody through the police that she would like to do so. Unfortunately, Roger and the police were not qualified to do that, but they did give her a list of people who could.

The next day was a whirlwind of emotion. Alya denounced her birth parents, got adopted by Mme. Cramois, and cried happy tears as the classmates she came out to accepted her and hugged her. Later, she would come out on the Ladyblog; there were haters, as there always had been, but with Max’s help, Alya would block them and increase policing and punishments for bigotry and bad intolerance. Ella and Etta, meanwhile, would be staying with Nora.

Lila had scowled in secret when she’d learned the truth - the liar had come in late that day due to allergies (a reason that had actually turned out to be true) - but she’d played along and hugged her regardless. Alya hadn’t missed the scowl, however; when Lila pretended as if she’d never done such a thing, Alya realized Lila’s deceptive nature. After some long-overdue research, she’d told Nino, and together, the two apologized to Marinette and promised they’d be on her side. They also asked her if she would be interested in turning Alya and Nino’s duo into a trio. Marinette was surprised, but she happily agreed (although she asked if Adrien could join them someday, which was a granted request).

The night of the next day, Ladybug, Chat Noir and Papilio would meet and discuss everything.


End file.
